Support for curtains, draperies, and the like



' Sept. 19, 1950 1.. ABRAMS 2,522,918

SUPPORT FOR CURTAINS, DRAPERIES, AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 7, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 6 INVENTOR low; A elm/vs ATTORNEYS Sept. 19, 1950 L. ABRAMS 2,522,918

SUPPORT FOR CURTAINS, DRAPERIES, AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. '7, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR lows AER/9M5 ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 19, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SUPPORT FOR CURTAINS, DRAPERIES, AND THE LIKE I Louis Abrams, Springfield, Mass. Application November 7, 1947, Serial No. 784,579

1 Claim. 1 This invention relates to a Support for holding curtains, draperies, and the like in pleated form and has for an object to provide an improved device of this character into which a drapery may be readily and easily assembled, said support positively holding the pleated form of the drapery against chancedisarrangement.

Another object is to provide a support of this type assuring a pleasing and attractive appearance in hanging a drapery in symmetrical folds and for doing this without excessive handling of the material to achieve the desired ornamental effect.

A further object is to provide a support which may be hung at each upper corner of a window or door frame or which may be used as a tieback. These and other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following de scription of an embodiment of the same in connection with the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the support;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view online 22 of Figpl;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the backside of the support;

Fig. 4 is a view on line 44 of Fig. 3 to show details of a latch mechanism for locking the device in compressed position; I

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a drape on a support fixed at the upper corner of a window or door frame;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a flat blank from which the support may be formed; and

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blank of Fig. 6 to show steps in the formation of the support.

In Fig. 1 the body of the support is shown as a series of folded portions I formed as .a corrugated sheet 2 of resilient material, preferably springy sheet metal. The sheet 2 is shown in the form of a trapezoid, although the shape may be that of a triangle or square as desired.

Fixed for pivotal swinging movement with respect to sheet 2 at the upper edge 3 thereof, as

seen in Fig. 2, are two retaining straps 4 having folds 5 therein and adapted to swing into and out of nested position with relation to the corresponding folds l of sheet 2.

It will be noted by reference to Fig. 5 that the drapery material 6 is placed in the folds I of the corrugated sheet 2, the edge of the cloth lying along the edge 3 of said sheet, and the straps 4 clamped in nested position to hold the drapery material pleated as shown. Thus a curtain or drapery may be hung to frame a window or doorway in a pleated arrangement with no effort on are here shown as joined together.

the support from the upper left hand corner of,

window frame is shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A looped wire bracket 8 is held in a folded portion of the straps 4 at the free ends thereof which As. shown (Fig. 1), the adjacent edge of one free end portion ofa strap d overlaps the free endportion of theother strap. The outer ends thereof are turned under and the overlapping portions may be pressed to hold by frictional engagement. As shown .at each outside edge of the turned portions, offsets are provided to form a beaded fold which receives the stem of the bracket 8. The loops of the bracket is offset from the end of the corrugated sheet 2 and is adapted to lie against theinner edge of the vertical frame 8 (Fig. 5) of "a window. At the diagonally opposite upper corner of the support a loop iii of a wire bracket Ill is adapted to rest on the upper edge of the horizontal frame member II of the window (Fig. 5). The wire in is anchored in two mounting ears [2 and It struck from the metal of the uppermost fold I (Figs. 2 and 3). The brackets 8 and Ill may be adjusted to permit the support to hang from the window frame or, if desired, the same may be fixed to the frame by screws applied through the looped portions. It will be obvious that a similar support for the right hand corner of the frame will have similar brackets oppositely placed to provide a symmetrical appearance.

In the preferred form of drapery support I have found it desirable to provide means for holding the folds compressed when the drapery or other material is inserted therein, although I have found the resilient force of springy metal is in itself suificient to hold the drapery by reason of friction and spring action of the straps in the nested position. As best seen in Figs. 2, 3, and 4, latch mechanism is provided at the rear of the support for holding the folds compressed in close relation. Two spaced fingers l5 and I6 of a plate [4 (attached by ears I'I projecting through the metal adjacent an outer fold I of the corrugated sheet), are bent to lie across the rear folds and project through a slot I 9 cut in a central portion of a fold I. This fold I is enlarged at the rear for this purpose (Fig. 2).

An oppositely placed finger 20 adapted to slide between fingers l and I 6 is similarly attached to an oppositely located outer fold by ears 2! and also projects through slot I9.

As seen at 22 (Fig. 3) each end edge of fold I is cut to form latch bar retaining ears 23 (Fig. 4) Ears 23 are bent to hold a latch bar 24 therebetween and longitudinally across slot [9 in the path of fingers l5, l6, and 2E. The fingers I5 and I6 are provided with knuckles 26, finger with knuckle 21, to receive the bar 24 when all of said knuckles are in alignment. In operation, the corrugated sheet 2 With the drapery inserted is compressed manually to align said knuckles 26 and 2'! and the support is held so that bar 24 will drop by gravity into said knuckles. Release of manual pressure will cause the resiliency of the metal support to hold the bar in the knuckles due to the opposing pressures on the bar from the oppositely pulled fingers. The latch can be released by holding the support compressed and turning it to permit the bar to drop free of the knuckles.

In Fig. 6 is shown in greatly reduced scale a flat blank of resilient sheet metal from which the preferred form of my invention is made. The central portion 30 between the scored lines 3| is designed to form the sheet 2 of Fig. 1. The side strips 32 are designed to form the straps 4. The metal is out along the lines 3| and nicked at the top thereof as at indentions 33. In the forming operation the body of the blank and the strips are stamped to shape the corrugations. The strips 32 are then turned over on the portion 30 and bent upwardly as at 35 in the manner illustrated by Fig. 7. The upper edge of portion 30 is preferably rolled to provide the edge 3 as shown in Fig. 2 with a strap. 4 being adapted for swinging movement about edge 3 as an axis. The swinging movement is, of course, resisted by the resilient character of the metal or other springy material .of which the support may be made.

It will be appreciated, as I have mentioned before, that the particular shape of the support may be modified according to the particular arrangement of curtain or drapery hanging desired. In the embodiment shown in the drawings the shape of the device may be that of any geometrical form, a circle, square, rectangle, etc. It will also be appreciated that the flat blank may be creased with groups of folds spaced from each other instead of a continuous series of folds throughout.

The example of Fig. 5 showing a festoon arrangement will readily suggest the arrangement of a full drape framing the window. Also the device can be adapted for the hanging of straight drapes or be used as a tieback for the same. And, as before noted, the support can be fitted with attachment or hanging fixtures for positioning the same in any way desired.

Having described my invention, I claim:

In a device for supporting curtains, draperies and the like, an adjustable holder comprising a thin sheet of resilient spring metal having a series of. corrugations arranged transversely of said sheet and having angular outwardly divergent fiatsides, a strap overlying said sheet and provided with a series of mating corrugations lying in removably nested relation within the flat sided corrugations of said sheet, said strap being a continuation of said resilient sheet and integrally joined therewith at one end for pivoting of said strap at said end into end out of said nested relation, releasable means fixed on said sheet at the underside thereof for holding the corrugations in compressed relation, said means including a finger plate extending longitudinally under said sheet transversely of said corrugations and anchor'ed to the sheet at one end thereof, said finger plate including laterally spaced side members, a second finger plate extending longitudinally of said sheet and anchored to the sheet .at the opposite end thereof, said second plate lying between the side members of the first plate and in 1 telescopical slidable relation therewith, and interlocking means to prevent relative longitudinal movement between the plates for an adjustable compressed relation of said nested strap and sheet.

LOUIS ABRAMS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,991,156 Kahn et a1. Feb. 12, 1935 2,238,891 Cohen et al Apr. 22, 1941 2,409,425 Falkenberg Oct. 15, 1946 2,498,925 Lind Feb. 28, .1950 

